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retrorussell

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Posts posted by retrorussell

  3. Posted

    I experienced my first coin-op games at a Shakey's Pizza place in San Luis Obispo, California. They had "Pong" and "Space Race". I also remembered playing games on the Odyssey system that my friend had, but there was no sound and no on-screen scoring. I can't remember which I experienced first. It seems like it was some time in 1975 that an arcade opened up at the north end of town, filled with only Black & White games. I recall that they also had a few pinball machines and an Air Hockey table. I think the pinball machines disappeared as more space was needed for the new video games that came out almost monthly. The growth of video games between 1975 and 1980 was just crazy, along with the introduction of microcomputers and the first home-systems.

     

     

    Wow.. Gordon Jump from WKRP in a Shakey's commercial!

    Yeah, we had one on the hill in Tigard going towards Portland. I remember playing CRASH and MISSILE COMMAND there. We'd always stop there on our way back from Christmas tree shopping. The rusty old Suburban my dad drove with the stinky diesel exhaust.. ah, memories.

  4. Posted

    We had an ENGINE HOUSE PIZZA in the Washington Square Mall parking lot in Tigard, OR that was around till the mid 80s. Good pizza and some good games I had not seen anywhere else before-- SPECTAR, RALLY X, maybe SPACE FIREBIRD. I can hear "Take Me To The Top" and "Waiting For A Girl Like You" playing in my head when I think of that place, which had cool fireman props along the walls like fire axes, hoses, fire truck models, etc. The franchise still exists but not in Oregon.

    engine-house-restaurant.jpg

    OAKS PARK amusement park along the Willamette River in SE Portland near Milwaukie has an arcade, roller rink, and amusement park with some great rides. I remember going as a REAL little kid and seeing SEA WOLF for the first time there. Later on I'd see YIE AR KUNG FU for the first time.

    oaksparkptld2015-5.jpg

  6. Posted

    Wow, what a difference a day made! Thunderstorms and rain!

     

    Good thing my current project is indoors-- cleaning, sweeping, mopping and waxing the hardwood floors. Got the living room left to do for tomorrow; I put lots of wax on the dining room and hallway and it looks GREAT. Thank God for 2 weeks vacation; after the living room's done then-- weather permitting-- I'll use my reciprocal saw and even the tops of the bushes in the back yard. Then maybe re-sanitize the hot tub. Then probably have a look at the attic and see how much that needs cleaning. Can I have 3 weeks off?

  10. Posted

    Here's places I used to go:

    I went to this one off of NE 103rd and Halsey in Portland: ELECTRIC CASTLE'S WUNDERLAND. Nickel arcade, and this one was one of the biggest, if not THE biggest. HUNDREDS of games. Might still be there; there are still several locations. First saw several games when they were brand new there.

    0143683631_adv.jpg

    Commercial for the ORGAN GRINDER, located in one of the scummier parts of Portland-- but boy was the pizza good IIRC and the arcade machines were great (that may have been where I first saw ARABIAN) and silent films and maybe 3 stooges were shown on a theater screen.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyFRuywQr8c

    Of course, MALIBU GRAN PRIX was great and had the best games (though only 4 tokens for a dollar).

    FARRELL'S ICE CREAM PARLOUR was everywhere way back in the day-- I saw so many games for the first time there in their mini-arcades. Space Invaders, Carnival and probably Fantasy I saw at the Beaverton and Washington Square Mall locations.

    • Like 1

  11. Posted

    My most classic arcade memory comes from about 1980. Before Chuck E Cheese's, we knew

    a place called PJ Pizzazz. A pizza kitchen with a dining room on one side and a ton of games

    on the other side. My dad would take me and a buddy there, give us each 40 bucks and

    let us play all the games we could. While he watched sports or something on the big

    screen tv they had. Can't remember all the obscure games we tried out. Great times.

    Was this the place?

    https://segaretro.org/P.J._Pizzazz

  15. Posted

     

     

    Wow Russell this post took me back because I remember playing each of those BITD and loving them!

     

    I played Super Zaxxon at the arcade in the Mall. I was very happy for a sequel.

     

    Stratovox was the only game in our Safeway store at one point in time in the early 80's. I'd play it while my mom shopped. I remember a checker talking about hearing the voices in the game and thinking she'd lost it the first time she heard them...She comically put her hand up to her forehead and said "Overworked?"

     

    And Space Odyssey was my favorite game to play in the upstairs arcade at Casa Bonita! Every time I was there! It's the only place I ever saw that game.

    I also have distinct memories of each game.. Super Zaxxon I saw at an arcade that didn't last long, that was just about 4 miles or so from where I currently live. I also remember it being part of a sweepstakes you could enter to win either a SUPER ZAXXON, PENGO or STAR TREK cabinet through a Halfsies cereal promotion. Here's the commercial:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGliODdPFbc

    Stratovox I didn't see until well after its release-- it wasn't a hugely popular game, kind of an oddity. I saw it around 1985/86 at either an Aladdin's Castle in Vancouver WA or the Gold Mine in the Sea-Tac Mall in the Seattle Tacoma area. Didn't play it but liked the "We'll be back" voice sample.

    Space Odyssey I saw at a Chuck E. Cheese in either Beaverton (not far from where I currently live) or Vancouver, WA. It may have also been at a 5 and dime store in Progress Plaza in Tigard OR. Wow, that's going way the hell back!

    • Like 1

  17. Posted

    Hi guys,

     

    Nice presentation. Really was a bummer that the price wasn't mention on the Mini yet. I like the white controller and think that the game selection is good. But Top Players Golf over Neo Turf Masters? Wonder who made the decision over that?

     

    My personal gripes is the look of the unit. I mean, no disrespect to the Neo 19 cabinet that the Japanese are accustom to since it was established, but us gamers here in America are so use to the "big reds". That's what I remember since going to arcades when they were rolled off the delivery trucks when I was a boy. Oh well. :(

     

    Anyway, really was amazed that they had the Neo-Geo designer Masanori Kusomoto included into the video. I only heard of him in articles in the past, but never seen the face of him.

     

    Anthony...

    I definitely agree with your points Anthony. It needed the classic red and white look, and Neo Turf Masters is a MILLION times better than Top Players Golf. It would have been great to have BJ Love interviewed in the video. :)

    • Like 1

  19. Posted

    Yep-- backwards compatible is pretty huge for me. So many good PS1 games, and the PS2 games are pretty darn impressive too; especially cutscenes with impressive visuals and the characters' mouths moving pretty realistically to the dialogue. I don't want to get any other PS system.

    • Like 1

  20. Posted

    Hey NEOphiles,

    Newest video is of RAGE OF THE DRAGONS, a real difficult vs. fighting game that is a must to avoid for those uncomfortable with having to learn combos or deal with very cheap opponents, and a multitude of attacks that easily get through your defenses.. because not only does that happen in this game, it happens RIGHT off the bat! There are some cool things like a combo attack you can do after pulling off a "first strike", as well as the super moves you can do when you fill your meter once, twice, even 3 times. This contains characters from DOUBLE DRAGON, albeit with slightly different names (due to licensing falling through at the last minute). Only recommended for the very patient!

    Included at the beginning is my flashback tribute to the year 2002, in which Rage Of The Dragons was created. This marks my second-to-last flashback in a series of 20. The beginning of the Patriots dynasty, Eminem, The Bourne Identity, and much, much more get a look in this video. Thanks for watching!

    • Like 1

  23. Posted

    I got my mom to take me to Chuck E Cheese back in the day a handful of times.. awful pizza but man, did they have fantastic games-- and tons of them! Chuck E himself wandered around to shake hands/hug kids and I'd avoid him like the plague.

     

    For folks in the Pacific Northwest I have very fond memories of the ORGAN GRINDER and UNCLE MILT'S theater-style houses with great pizza, great arcades and silent movies or 3 Stooges movies.

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